Edited 6/15/23: Minor Grammar/Spelling and a little more detail about Millie and Hermione shopping.

It's short because I have A LOT of cleaning to do and have procrastinated enough... I move in literally 2 days... OOPS!

Enjoy.

Monday, June 15, 1998

As she got ready for her tea with Millie, Daphne, and Pansy, Hermione couldn't tell if she was nervous or excited. Draco had gone to his apprenticeship and Theo was off on Family Business.

She made her way to the library and sat at her favourite table. Callisto curled in her lap. Io was staring out the window playfully pushing a ball around. Ganymedes was watching him disdainfully, while Europa was curled up in the chair next to Hermione.

Hermione pulled out the Twinned Journal that Draco had given her and was delighted to see his copious notes. He was almost as diligent of a note taker as she the next hour or so Hermione read through his notes, making small annotations here and there.

She'd been so engrossed in her work that she barely noticed when Lulu popped in. "Mistress!" she squeaked, causing Hermione to jump. "You is going to be being late for tea!"

Hermione looked at the clock on the wall, realising she had less than ten minutes to get there.

She stood and placed Callisto on the chair she'd just vacated and made her way to the Floo. She stepped through and swallowed a bit of nausea as she spotted the girls sitting around the table. Millie grinned at her and waved her over. Hermione sat and greeted each of them, quickly falling into their conversation about Magical Holidays.

"Did you all receive our invite to Alban Hefin, Myuh?" Daphne asked after a while.

"Alban Hefin?" Hermione asked, pretending she didn't recognize the name.

"Oh you probably call it something else," Daphne chuckled at herself, "The Greengrass Summer Solstice is the event of the summer season. I told Mother to send along your invite, but it must have been misplaced. I'll get it to you today once I'm home."

"It's a notorious party," Pansy said with a smirk. "No shoes of course, huge bonfires at night, lots of flowers and it's a very intimate time for many people."

Hermione flushed slightly. She knew all about the intimacy of the Summer Solstice. "Which other families will be there?" she asked curiously.

"Most of the more neutral families attend," Millie said, catching onto Hermione's line of questioning. "It's one of the most powerful celebrations of magic, there really aren't many people who would come and ruin such a powerful day."

Hermione nodded thoughtfully, and agreed to attend. She was pleased to see just how comfortable each of the girls was with her. It was odd that these girls who would have called Hermione terrible names were showing themselves to be big fans of Myuh. A small part of her lamented the idea that prejudice and bigotry had integrated itself so far into their society that there wasn't even room for friendship amongst different groups.

At the end of the tea, she looped her arm with Millie's and dragged her to a dress shop to find dresses for Alban Hefin. Hermione found herself laughing more than she thought imaginable with the other girl, further solidifying her belief that Millie needed to be looped into everything. By the time they left the store, Hermione was starving, but their dresses were selected and she felt light and happy.

Thanks for reading! Let me know what you think or if you have any thoughts about what might happen next!